Shanghai Embroidery Lady

Chapter 5
Putting on Zizheng's trousers, Ye Zijin felt that she had become shorter, and the trousers were baggy and grew out a lot.The little boy back then had grown into a man, and if Xiaorong hadn't been lost, he would have grown so tall... Ye Zijin felt a little sad in his heart.

When Zizheng came in after washing his trousers, he saw his sister was mending a cheongsam, so he asked curiously, "Whose clothes are these?"

Zijin didn't look up, but was still concentrating on the needlework, "How do you know it's not my clothes?"

Zizheng sat beside her, and said with a smile: "My sister's eyes are not so vulgar. I once heard Er Niang say that this kind of poplin was used by servants in the Dutong Mansion back then..." Suddenly realized what he said Wrong words, Zizheng stuck out his tongue, seeing that Zijin didn't care, so he changed the subject and said, "Sister, why do you mend this tacky cheongsam, it doesn't look good in the first place."

"What do you know? This is called being entrusted by others. Faith is more important than a mountain. Do you know the feeling of being trusted? It's like walking a long night road and suddenly seeing a light... There are still some strange things in this world. Such a snobbish person." Ye Zijin said while mending.

"Yes, the female student I met today is not snobbish, she seems to live here too." Ye Zizheng said casually.

Ye Zijin stopped sewing, raised her eyes and smiled, "What? Did you like her?"

"No, I just happened to meet her and was entangled by a rich young master to help her out. You said that many girls want to enter the upper class these days. They wish to find a rich man to marry, but she is very different. .” Ye Zizheng expressed sincere approval in his eyes.

Ye Zijin shook his head, continued to move the needle, and said with a smile, "It's a good start for a hero to save the beauty."

"sister……"

"Okay, okay, I won't say anything, just pass me the scissors." Ye Zijin smiled.

Ye Zijin mended the cheongsam until late at night, on the other side of the curtain, Zizheng was still asleep.

Thanks to Aunt Zhou's treasure box, there are all kinds of silk threads in it, and the hole was sewed according to the color of the cheongsam. If you don't look carefully, you can't see it. She can't help but think of Aunt Zhou again.

Back then, Zhou Wan, the concubine of Dutong Mansion, was born as Xiu Niang. Because of her low status, even if she gave birth to a pair of twin sons, she was excluded everywhere in Dutong Mansion where there are many children.And Ye Zijin herself lost her mother since she was a child, and was a concubine, so she was like a wild girl in the house, no one cares about her.Once when she was very ill, it was Aunt Zhou who saved her life.Aunt Zhou is a virtuous woman who is skilled in embroidery. If she hadn't been with Aunt Zhou since she was a child, the cheongsam would never have been repaired today.

After patching up the cheongsam, Ye Zijin quietly took out the indigo cotton cloth she just bought today.Gently hugging Aunt Zhou's Baibao sewing box out of bed, she began to sew new year's clothes for Zizheng under the dim light.

I remembered that when she first came to Shanghai, Aunt Zhou would spend the money she saved from living frugally to buy fabrics for her and her younger brothers to make new clothes. The happiest time for her every year was the New Year’s Day, when she had dumplings to eat and new clothes to wear. At night, the children in the alley go out to set off firecrackers
Now she and Zizheng are not children anymore, and it has been seven years since Aunt Zhou left, and thinking about where Zirong has been sold, a crystal tear fell on the cloth, soaking into a small black spot.Ye Zijin wiped the corners of her eyes, and carefully cut the fabric.

The new moon is like an eyebrow outside the window, the night is getting late, the sky is getting colder, and tomorrow is New Year's Eve...

(End of this chapter)